


How to Train Your Ex-Con

by paranomastic



Category: RWBY
Genre: Eventual Relationships, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 04:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4593636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranomastic/pseuds/paranomastic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At some point during the Vytal Festival Tournament, Emerald Sustrai betrays Cinder and Mercury to authorities in exchange for a very strange alternative to a prison sentence for herself. Why? Well, that's up to Team RWBY to figure out! They're going to be stuck with her for a while, after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Enter Team RWBY(e?)

Emerald’s conditions for betraying Cinder were simple: Cinder got a hefty prison sentence instead of an execution, she herself got off as scot-free as was humanly possible, and okay fine if they needed someone to watch her to make sure she kept herself on the up-and-up then _please_ let it be the team with the blonde who rocket-punched Mercury square in the dick during the Vytal Festival.

Met, met, and met. So now Emerald Sustrai was officially Team RWBY’s responsibility (and source of extra credit). Like a pet! In addition to the actual pet they had. A pet that could steal the fur off an Ursa without it even having the chance to look at her funny. So pretty much as cool as the other pet but on two legs. And now she was standing on those two legs between two sets of bunk beds in a dorm room while her new owners debated what to do with her.

“She’s _certainly not_ a member of the team.” The stuck-up one (Vice?) insisted, nearly breaking into a pout, “She’s a community service project, at _best_.”

“Sick burn, snowflake,” Unfortunately for small white and sexually repressed, Emerald cut her snarking teeth on Mercury Black, “You guys won’t even notice me. I’ll just be… the silent ‘e’ on the end, y’know?”

The faunus cleared her throat, “Those generally change the pronunciation of the letters before them.”

“Okay, so it’s not a perfect metaphor, sue me,” Emerald sighed, “But technically you don’t have any vowels in your team name for me to corrupt with my evil ways anyway. Team Ruh-wooby.”

“Guys, c’mon-“ Ruby – Emerald had been told her name plenty of times by now – tried to interject.

“Ooh, you’re _fun_.” Yang “My-Fists-Have-Already-Earned-Emerald’s-Love” Xiao Long chimed in from her bed.

There was a noise of either exasperation or frustrated constipation from the white one, “Of _course_ you would take her side!”

“Hey, I’m just saying she’s kinda cool!”

“She is a _nuisance_!”

“Probably why I think she’s cool!”

“Ugh, you _would_.”

“I mean I am pretty cool, so. Yellow one isn’t wrong.”

“Team RWBY and also Emerald! EVERYONE, QUIET!” Ruby was breathing heavily, but to her credit all eyes were on her. 

And despite having gone rogue, Emerald had nothing but respect for an effective leader. The dental plan stood pretty low on the list of “Reasons Why I Worked With Cinder Fall, Noted Murderer Who Might Have Eaten Babies I Wouldn’t Really be Surprised.” The kid was still young and kind of obnoxious, though, Emerald stood by that. But hey, people could change! Mercury changed from a big asshole to a bigger asshole every day while she still had to deal with him!

A final deep breath from Ruby, “Look, this is weird. Really, _really_ weird, and I know none of us expected it. But we have to look on the bright side, alright? We have someone new to get to know, and we’ve been given a big responsibility. And we have to rise to the challenge! Who’s with me?”

“I am, sis!” Yang replied.

“I don’t think I get a vote.” Emerald admitted.

Blake shrugged.

“I will have you all know that this is a terrible idea.” The frostiest vampire grumbled.

“We just met her, Weiss, let’s give it some time. But first, we need to do actual introductions! Team RWBY role call!” She stuck her finger in the air as she yelled, which Emerald guessed she probably thought looked cool. “I’m Ruby, I’m the leader, so I guess I’m in charge of you?” Well, she _was_ the one writing Emerald’s “progress reports.”

“I’m Weiss, and I don’t like you or anything about this.” said Frosty, brows lowering into a glare. Unfortunately for her the feeling on the first part was growing less mutual the more ruffled her hypothetical feathers got.

“Blake.” She clearly had not found it in her to forgive Emerald for what she and her people were going to do. Which was fair.

“And I’m sorry Weiss is being such a jerk! Also my name is Yang.”

“Emerald,” her lips curled into a smirk, “But you knew that already”

Ruby nodded, “Okay, Emerald! What kinds of things do you like to do? We have some time before bed.”

Oh Dust, _activities_. Maybe she should have gone with Cinder’s “ruin everything for everyone” plan after all. “We didn’t exactly have time for fun and games conspiring to take over the world.”

“Okay, then what did you like to do before that?” It was a valiant effort on Ruby’s part, at least.

“You really underestimate how long Cinder’s been trying.” She shrugged, “But I don’t know. What are my options?”

“Uh… talking, board games, just… hanging out?” Ruby sighs, “We really didn’t get time to prepare for you showing up. I would’ve made a binder.”

“You mean you would have used my binder. Again.”

“What part of ‘I am not a crook’ didn’t you understand, Weiss?”

“Mom, other mom, stop no don’t fight,” Emerald intoned quietly, not an ounce of emotion to her voice. It got a snicker out of Yang, at least.

Blake of all people spoke up next, “Do you have any hobbies at all, Emerald?”

“Are we playing ‘getting to know you’ questions now, or are you just asking for ideas?”

Blake did not respond verbally. Oh good, the silent type. Roman’s sadistic mute girl at least had actual expressions. Those expressions were varying degrees of terrifying smile, admittedly, but at least they were something.

Emerald shrugged, “I like stealing things.” For emphasis, she held up a pair of exceptionally white panties, “I’m pretty good at it, too.”

“H-How?” Rice Knees went red as Ruby’s cloak and she reached down to look under her skirt.

“Not off of you!” Emerald sighed, “Not enough time.”

“Yyyyyeah, that’s not cool here, Emerald.” Ruby winced, looking almost genuinely concerned, “No like. Evil stuff.”

Emerald raised an eyebrow, “Evil stuff?”

“Y’know. Stealing. Killing. Blowing up things that belong to people.”

For a moment, nothing more, vague ache stung at Emerald’s heart. “No evil stuff. No stealing. Any other rules?”

“Uh… you need to be around one of us at all times, but that’s a rule from Ozpin, not me.” Ruby frowned, “We probably need to figure out where you’re gonna sleep?”

“The floor, I assume.” Emerald replied, looking around for a spot, “I’ve slept on worse.” Way worse, but the particulars of Emerald’s past were not exactly about to come up here. Not to a bunch of kids.

Because that was what they were, especially by comparison to her. Well, she had her suspicions about the faunus, but other than her? Kids. Kids who had faced maybe a taste or two of darkness in their lives. A spoiled rich girl and a couple dorky sisters. One of whom had seduced her away from Cinder and company with her dick-punching prowess, but still.

“I mean, if you’re sure…” Ruby winced, looking around.

Emerald nodded, walking to a corner of the room, “Yep. Really sure. Now If you’ll excuse me, Team Raw-double-youbee, I’m gonna get some sleep. Your bickering has officially tuckered poor little Emerald out.”

As she settled in to sleep leaned against the dorm wall, Emerald heard Ruby call for an “emergency team meeting” out in the hall. Fine by her, she supposed. She _had_ been somewhat haphazardly shoved into their lives. All they had to do was wait out the period during which Team RWBY would have to watch her. And keeping continued thievery from their notice would be fun! Emerald Sustrai was a sucker for a good challenge, what could she say?

Sleeping, though, was not a challenge, and once the four girls were out of the room she easily drifted off.

\------------------------------

“Look, I know this is a weird idea, but,” Ruby sighed, leaning against the wall across from her three teammates, “She requested us. And if Ozpin agreed, there’s a reason why we’re doing this.”

“Gratitude for her selling out her friends?” Blake raised an eyebrow, “Has anyone even figured out why she betrayed Cinder?”

Weiss groaned, “Because she’s terrible? I doubt she needed more reason than that. No one ever seems to.”

“Yeah, but if she was terrible, she would have gone along with Cinder’s plans.” Ruby replied, fingers on her chin in thought, “Maybe figuring that out is part of why Ozpin assigned her to us?”

“It could be.” A new voice intoned behind them, and Team RWBY collectively swung towards it.

“Uh… hey, Professor Ozpin.” Yang chimed in, breaking the shocked silence.

Ozpin, having taken advantage of that silence to partake in a sip of his coffee, nodded once towards her, “’Hey’ to you as well, Miss Xiao Long.”

“Professor, why _did_ you let her come here and stay with us?” Weiss demanded, hands balled into fists at her sides, “It doesn’t make any sense! She should be in prison, right?”

“Ironwood certainly thought so,” Ozpin replied in his finest Teacher Voice, calmly scanning the team again, “Something about her being too dangerous to keep around. Why do _you_ think I agreed to her demands, Miss Schnee?”

Weiss blinked, taking a moment to gather her scattered thoughts, “To test us?” That seemed to be why anything out of the ordinary happened to Beacon students. Either that or a given teacher being bored/”quirky.”

“To figure out why she made the demands in the first place.” Blake looked over at Ozpin, “To see what her plan is while she’s somewhere close.”

“Very interesting, Miss Belladonna.” Another sip of his coffee, “For now, whatever my reasons, I would like you all to focus on forming a rapport with Miss Sustrai, as… think of it as a personal favor to Mister Ironwood and myself. This is a delicate situation, and I am placing a great deal of trust in all of you. An unfair amount, perhaps.”

“And we can do it.” Ruby smiled at him, “We’ve got this.”

“Yeah!” Yang beamed, “We’ll figure out what her deal is, don’t worry.”

“I look forward to reports on Miss Sustrai’s ‘deal.’” Ozpin smirked, raising his coffee up to his lips once more, “In the meantime, you should consider getting some rest. She seems like the might be… a handful.” Ozpin’s talent for understatement, Team RWBY was glad to see, continued to be a thing.

After Ozpin had left, without a farewell just as he had so casually skipped a greeting, Team RWBY exchanged exasperated and confused glances and shrugs, then collectively headed in to bed.

Before heading up to her bunk, Ruby glanced over at the sleeping hopefully-ex-villain and sighed. Develop a rapport with her. Easier said than done, Professor Ozpin. But she could at least try, right? She had to at least try.

\------------------------------

Emerald’s eyes snapped open - _something was covering her_ , something – was it a net? It had to be some kind of net, it had been years since she was in a net but she knew too well what it felt like to be-

It was a blanket. A big Beacon-issued red blanket. And Ruby was standing over her, albeit having stepped back at Emerald’s jolt upwards.

“… Why?” Emerald asked, the cocktail of exhaustion, surprise, and resignation stealing away the wind from the sails of her wit.

Ruby shrugged, “We all get blankets, it seemed fair.” She smiled, “And I don’t want you to have to steal stuff from us while you’re here. That’s not cool for anyone.”

A response caught in Emerald’s throat, then she chuckled, “I’ll see if I can hold myself back.”

“Sounds like a good start,” Ruby giggled softly, barely audible over Yang’s snores, “We may not know what part of the team you are yet, but… while you’re here you are one.”

Emerald could see why her team followed her – that optimism was one hell of a thing to see. But she knew where optimism got any optimists she had ever known. “Like I said. Silent E.”

“Silent E.” Ruby nodded, “Right. G’night, Emerald.”

“See you tomorrow, Ruby.”

What? The blanket was worth using her actual name just once.


	2. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Port! Team JNPR! An Ursa! MYSTERIES! V3 is going to break everything in this fic and I am so ready.

Luckily, Emerald woke before her new guardians could see her sleeping curled tight in the blanket Ruby had handed her. They were… okay kids, Emerald supposed. That was going to be a problem for them someday.

The technical rules of her agreement with Ozpin were pretty simple – Emerald had to be in the same room as at least one member of Team RWBY at all times unless meeting privately with a Beacon instructor or staff member. Any further infractions of the law (if she was caught, which would not happen) would be treated with increased severity, and she was not allowed to visit or communicate with any of her former associates without prior approval from Ozpin himself. It was like a weird, very controlled vacation. What would happen afterwards was unclear to everyone, but especially her.

Not that she exactly had high hopes for the future after all this. But that was a worry for another day.

“Goooood morning Team RWBY and Emerald!” Ruby yelled from above her, inciting a series of moans and groans from the other bunks.

“Good morning, Ruby!” Emerald chimed in, drawing another groan out from the bunk below Ruby’s.

“And here I hoped you being here was some awful dream I would wake up from.” The whitest kid Emerald knew whined, voice muffled by the pillow pressed over her head.

Emerald shrugged, “I could pinch you, if you want to be sure.”

“I’ll. Pass.”

“Okay, maybe no waking up on the wrong side of the bed, everyone?” Ruby asked, jumping down from her bunk.

“I don’t have a bed to wake up on the wrong side of.” Emerald pointed out. And hey, at least Yang laughed from up above her.

A little time to get ready and they were all prepared for class! Class that Emerald really had no reason to go to, but class she had to attend anyway. Okay, maybe there were some severe drawbacks to the whole arrangement. Professor Port, as she found out once they had gotten to the class and it had started, was profoundly uninteresting especially when attendance at his lecture was merely mandated by law. This was it. This was the first time this arrangement genuinely felt like punishment. Old man words blurred together into other old man words, and Emerald was about to pass out from exasperated boredom when he called on her, just to make this worse.

“Miss… Sustrai, is it?”

_I’ve changed my mind, Ozpin, I want to be executed for treason instead_. “That’s my name. I’m, uh, not a student, though.”

“You were passing as one, though, were you not?”

“That… was part of Cinder’s plan, yeah. I’m not a first-year, though.” The gruff rambling of his lecture had drained her of all possible wit, it seemed. Only dazed confusion remained.

Port laughed, a booming series of guffaws that sent a chill down Emerald’s spine harsher than anything Neo had ever inspired in her, “Exactly why I’d like you to show the class what you’re capable of, my dear!”

_Call me your dear again and I’ll get “capable” all over you_. “Uh. Sure?” She stood up, stretched, and strode down to the front of the classroom, stride slow and purposeful.

“Go Emerald!” Ruby cheered from somewhere nearby. Yang offered a thumbs-up when Emerald looked over, but the other two remained silent, watching.

“Well, this is familiar,” she heard the faunus muse to herself, and wondered what exactly she meant by that.

Emerald stretched her arms out a little once she was on the, for lack of a better term, show floor. “So what am I beating?” She asked, looking around.

“Unfortunately there was… _opposition_ to my attempt to bring your opponent into the classroom,” Port sighed, “So I’ve reserved Combat Circle 7 for you. It’s just down the hall, we’ll watch a video feed from in here.”

Emerald shrugged, “Alright, works for me.” Being in a room far away from this guy seemed like a _fantastic_ plan.

“Professor!” Ruby called out, interrupting Emerald’s walk to the door.

“Yes, Miss Rose?”

“Uh…” Ruby cleared her throat, and announced as though rehearsed, “Emerald needs to be accompanied by a member of Team RWBY or Beacon staff at all times.”

“Is that so?” Port mused to himself for a moment, “Very well. Refer to your teammates’ notes on my commentary after the fight.”

A few moments later, Ruby and Emerald were walking down the hall. “Not even leaving me alone to walk down the hall, huh?”

“Nope.” Ruby walked with strange exaggerated steps, hands tucked behind her back, “Ozpin’s orders, remember?”

“Right. Ozpin.” Tall, caffeinated, and hilariously powerful.

There was a pause, then, “Hey, Emerald?”

“Yeah?”

“Why were you working for Cinder, anyway? Mercury was a huge jerk, and Roman was… _Roman_ , but you never seemed...” Ruby frowned, gears clearly hard at work trying to figure out the right word, “Evil?”

Emerald could have gotten angry at the girl, and probably should have gotten angry at her, but instead chose to laugh and thump her on the back. “That isn’t a Day One question, kid.”

Ruby winced, “Please don’t call me ‘kid.’” 

“Sorry. Red?”

Silver eyes widened in horror, then settled into resignation, “Kid is fine.”

Emerald sighed, “Ruby.”

“Huh?”

“That’s your name. And I guess,” Emerald looked around, and gripped the handle of the door to Combat Circle 7, “While no one else is around and as long as you don’t tell anyone, I’ll use it once in a while.”

Ruby nodded vigorously, “My lips are sealed.”

“Can’t have anyone thinking I’m already going soft,” Emerald smirked, “Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for my close-up.”

Emerald slipped in first, and Ruby kept close to the door, in the observation area. Below them, though a simple two-door waiting area, there was an Ursa Major standing shackled in the center of the Combat Circle. Once she was secure in the waiting area, a button press from Port would open both the door to the arena and the shackles on the Grimm. Emerald knew all too well how this kind of thing went.

_It’s for a class, Emerald_. She reassured herself, closing the waiting area door behind her, _You’re fine. This isn’t like before._ Ugh, she should have thought more about what she was agreeing to, taken time to psych herself up before stepping into a damn _arena_.

_”Annnnnnd in this corner! Our newest combatant…”_

“Miss Sustrai!” Emerald shook the old voice out of her head, but she still managed to be slightly disappointed it was Port’s voice filling in, “Are you ready?”

Emerald drew her pistols and, after an experimental spin, nodded. “Anything special you want me to do?”

“Well, you should probably try to win,” Port replied before the door snapped open. _Okay old man, that wasn’t too bad._

The Ursa hoped it was prepared for her, probably, but it was hard to be prepared for Emerald Sustrai on the best of days. She led off with a few shots towards its eyes, then swung around the edge of the arena to get out of its field of vision. Dash, dash, wait for it to swing around towards her, and when the stupid thing charged, flip over its head and get a few blows in on its face as she soared back.

She landed on the ground behind the Ursa and focused on projecting her Aura into the blades attached to her pistols. Might as well give the kids a show, right? And maybe even a little hint of her Semblance, too, even if she meant to keep that under wraps. Luckily for her, it was easy to keep concealed.

Slash, slash again, dive under and slash upwards before slamming a kick into the wound. Jump back and blast a bunch of shots into it. And lo, the Ursa fell! Not even a little hard.

Emerald turned to the camera, tucking her weapons away, and bowed. Over by the door, Ruby even graced her with a little applause. Alright, hey, she got some points with Emerald for that. Stroking her ego could get a girl places, what could Emerald say?

“Very good, Miss Sustrai. We’ve all learned from your efforts.”

Ha ha. Yeah, funny. “Throw a couple more at me next time, okay?”

“I’ll see what I can do. Class dismissed, no need for you or Miss Rose to come back here.”

This was sort of strange. Why would he have needed her to fight? No one was going to get that much out of watching her take down an Ursa, were they? Maybe Ozpin had asked for data on her fighting style? The Vytal Festival should have given them all the data they needed in that department, though.

Ruby was grinning from ear to ear when she left the arena. “That was really cool, Emerald! What are your guns’ names? Can I see them? _Can I hold them?_ ”

“I… never really went in for the whole weapon-naming thing.” There had really never been a point. Her pistols looked cool, obviously – she made them herself, of course they looked cool – but naming them always felt like naming a screwdriver. Why name a tool? Even a couple of really cool tools.

It must have sounded less offhanded and casual than Emerald thought - Ruby looked genuinely hurt, gaze cast down, “Oh.”

“You can see them if you want.”

“No, I…” Ruby sighed, “It’s okay. Let’s just go get some lunch.”

It took a second after Ruby left the room for Emerald to realize with horror that she actually felt bad about having made Ruby sad. _It hasn’t even been 24 hours, Emerald, what the hell?_ Were Mercury still around he would have never let her live this down. He was probably laughing hysterically in his prison pod somewhere without knowing why at that very moment.

She followed Ruby out into the hall after a few seconds of reflection, and found her smiling again as she greeted her other team members.

“Oh man, that was awesome!” Suddenly there was an incoming fistbump from Yang, and Emerald returned to her standard smirk to return it.

“Little easy, but whatever. Anything to get out of that classroom, right?”

Yang laughed, “Lucky break. Ready for lunch?”

“You know it.”

One of the perks of working with Cinder Emerald had no idea how much she would miss was that she without fail paid for better food than cafeteria fare for every meal. Now she had to deal with it, but, as with many things here, Emerald had dealt with worse before Cinder had found her. She just had to get used to lowering her standards a little again, that was all.

“So that’s, uh, Emerald, right?” A short-haired blonde mop of a teenager asked from down the table. Emerald vaguely remembered him from the class they had just been in.

“Yup!” Yang grinned down the table, crumbs of bread scattered around her mouth, “She’s cool.”

“Yang is… slightly overstating her appeal.” the snow queen grumbled next to her, taking another bite of her meatloaf.

“Good to meet you, Emerald,” the one who Emerald was pretty sure she had seen on a cereal box once said, “You’re the one who testified against Cinder?”

“Yup.” Emerald looked down at her food, “The one who sold her out.”

“So what kind of bad guy stuff did you do?” The simultaneously shortest and most obviously full of barely suppressed energy girl at the table asked, leaning forward just a little too enthusiastically towards her.

“Nora…” the other member of this second team started, glancing over at her.

“I’m just asking!”

Hey, maybe she could psyche the kid out a little. Emerald leaned forward, grinning, “Nasty messy assassinations.” She replied, with a relish that clearly horrified everyone at the table.

Everyone except for this other girl. Okay, she could respect that.

“Ooh, like what?”

Emerald chuckled, “That… was almost entirely a joke. But actually mostly I steal things.”

The girl was still undeterred, “Like what? Can you teach me?”

“No, Nora, she can’t teach you.” Her clearly long-suffering companion interjected, holding his temples.

“Aw, you’re no fun!” She turned towards the scarecrow boy, “Jaune, you’re the leader. Can I?”

“I think it’s probably best for everyone that you don’t.”

Nora groaned, “Fiiiiine.” She turned back towards Emerald, “What kind of stuff do you steal?”

Emerald, who had been sitting between a now-blushing Rice Knees and Yang, shrugged. “Nothing, now. But I _can_ steal basically anything.”

“Famous paintings?” Nora asked, grinning.

“Sure, with a little time to plan. Once you know how the security system is set up you really just have to worry about outsmarting some minimum wage night shift guards.”

“Weapon stockpiles?”

“Kid stuff. Scare them into transferring the weapons elsewhere, then steal the deliveries en route.”

“Professor Ozpin?”

“I… what?” Emerald blinked. Where would she even start doing something like that? She would have to intercept him en route somewhere, maybe knock him out – he drank a lot of coffee, she could probably slip something in there. Finding somewhere that could hold someone as powerful as him would be next to impossible, though, not to mention he could probably talk any guard in Remnant into just letting him out. Something strong enough to keep him bound and gagged would be hard to find, but maybe if she went old-school and dunked him to his neck in cement? Use white noise to distract him and keep his ability to focus on his Semblance down…

“I certainly hope Miss Sustrai doesn’t plan to try to steal me.” Ozpin said from behind her, jolting Emerald out of her contemplation.

All the students were now looking at Emerald, who very slowly turned around. “Uh. Wouldn’t think of it.”

“Good to hear,” Ozpin smiled, “I’d like to take her off your hands for a little while, Team RWBY, if you don’t mind.”

“Please do,” the white one replied all too quickly, “She’s starting to give Nora ideas.”

Before long Emerald was standing in Ozpin’s office, gears whirring all around her. “What are all these for, anyway?”

Ozpin took a moment to reply, taking a quiet sip of his coffee, “I doubt you’d believe me if I told you.”

“Then tell me.”

“That was actually my way of trying to subtly indicate to you that I have no plans to,” He picked up a folder from his desk with his free hand, “There’s very little about you out there for us to track down, you know.”

“No offense, Ozzy, but I’ve worked pretty hard to keep it that way.”

“And your efforts show, _Miss Sustrai_.” He sighed, “Unfortunately, there is some information we need, if we are going to continue to trust you enough to let you walk freely.”

“I’m legally shackled to four teenage girls, Ozpin, ‘walking freely’ is _not_ what I would call that.”

He chucked, “I suppose not. Would you at least be willing to tell me where you are from?”

“Lots of places,” Emerald replied, shrugging, “Depending on the fake ID.”

Ozpin sat down, “I see. So what were you running from?”

“What?”

“What were you running from? Most young girls don’t assume new last names and travel through the kingdoms on fake papers without a reason to keep moving.”

Emerald stepped back, “Telling you about where I come from wasn’t part of the deal, Ozpin.”

“No, I suppose not.” He locked eyes with her, gaze steely and even, “That said, I could always ask Miss Fall. She’s said some rather unpleasant things about you, I hear.”

Emerald found her hands balling themselves into fists at her sides. “Vacuo. I was born in Vacuo. Good luck finding the birth records, but. That’s what you get today.”

“More than I hoped for. Thank you very much for your time, Miss Sustrai. I’ll leave you to find your own way back to Team RWBY.”

“What happened to accompanying me at all times?”

“I think you’ve earned a little break. If just for indulging an old man’s curiosity.”

“Rrright.” Because that was comforting. But Emerald Sustrai was not one to look a gift break in the… mouth? Sure. So she wandered off out of the room.

She’d get back to Team RWBY eventually, honest! She just felt like taking the scenic route.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so. Don't expect a regular update schedule, do expect gratuitous shipping of some kind eventually once I settle on a ship or two because I am complete shipper trash just as much as I am redemption arc trash, and expect... I'm estimating about fifteen to twenty chapters? We'll see. Might be less! I haven't done multi-chapter fic in way longer than it's been since I'd written fic at all before showing up here.
> 
> We cool? We cool.


End file.
